When discussing the top birth years in terms of hockey players in New England, the 1998s aren’t likely to be brought up.
Whether it be at the NHL draft or college hockey, the ’98s haven’t had much success. Only five ’98 in New England were selected in the NHL draft. It took the best player in the age group until his third year of eligibility to be picked. If there’s one beacon of hope, it’s that all five drafted players have signed pro contracts.
However, John Leonard might be the only legit NHL prospect of the group. The other four players are destined for careers in the minors. Amherst, Mass., native Leonard was picked in the 2018 draft after a successful freshman season at UMass. He led college hockey in goal scoring this past season with 27 and earned a nod as a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick Finalist before inking his first pro contract with the San Jose Sharks, the team that drafted him in the sixth round.
Back in the day, Leonard was thought of highly. He earned an invite to the NTDP Evaluation Camp, but fell short. His time in the USHL with Green Bay didn’t go as planned. He’s just another reminder that development is full of ups and downs. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Leonard isn’t the only late bloomer in this age group. Strauss Mann was a career prep school backup until his senior season at Brunswick. It was that year that his development took off. He helped Mid Fairfield win a USA Hockey 18-U National Championship before heading off to the USHL’s Fargo Force. The Greenwich, Conn., native helped Fargo win the Clark Cup as USHL champions and earned a commit to Michigan in the process. Once he got to Ann Arbor, he continued to defy the odds and exceed expectations. This past season, he had a .939 save percentage and was a finalist for the Mike Richter Award, given to college hockey’s top goaltender.
Another feel-good story is Yale sophomore Justin Pearson, who has climbed his way into my top 10 of the birth year. The Nashua, N.H., native played four seasons of high school hockey in the Granite State for Bishop Guertin. After that, he joined the Islanders Hockey Club in the USPHL. It wasn’t until January of his final season of junior hockey that he received an offer from Yale. He put up a respectable 17 points as a freshman but saw his production jump by seven this winter. Pearson had 14 goals to go along with 10 assists for the Bulldogs.
While Leonard, Mann and Pearson are success stories, this class is littered with players who had lofty expectations that have never come to fruition. Chad Krys, a 2016 second-round pick of Chicago, always was considered one of the top ’98s in the country. He played for the NTDP and had a solid college career at Boston University. However, it’s not likely he’ll ever make a living in the NHL.
This birth year has quite a few former national camp participants and other highly regarded prospects who are now healthy scratches in Division 1 or playing Division 3. This isn’t meant to put any of them down. Rather, it’s a stark reality of how hard it is to become a good Division 1 college hockey player or to reach the NHL.
Top 55 New England hockey players born in 1998:
